What is the Technology Behind Ripple & XRP?

Ripple enables peer-to-peer transaction, which means that Ripple only allows transfers of fiat. It does not act as a transactional protocol for crypto-to-crypto, rather crypto-to-fiat. However, it is a payment protocol that allows instant payments with low fees. Ripple assists businesses in various ways. The technology enables cryptographically-signed issuances in which users can send and trade with one another in seconds, on the Ripple network, comparing to old process that takes a day or days.

In terms of speed, XRP transaction processes within 4 seconds and able to handle more than 1,500 transaction, simultaneously. XRP uses Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm (RPCA) which is used to vote from Unique Node List (UNL) on their servers.